11/09/2025 - At the German-speaking world’s second-largest festival, 14 films will be competing for 25,000 Swiss francs in the Feature Film Competition

Boasting 114 films, and 21 world, four international and 16 European premieres, the 21st Zurich Film Festival (25 September-5 October) has just finished unveiling its full line-up, complete with a star-studded group of awardees. Russell Crowe will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, Swiss producer Anne Walser will be crowned with the Career Achievement Award, and British thesp Claire Foy will receive a Golden Eye for her decades-long creative work.

The festival’s Feature Film Competition is notably restricted to first, second and third films by directors. This year’s 14-title competition pays special attention to childhood and youth, particularly stories “shaped by political, family or cultural constraints”, as elucidated by festival vice-president Reta Guetg. The selection includes several works from high-profile festivals, some of which have been selected as Oscar submissions. These acclaimed works include the Sean Baker-produced Cannes Critics’ Week pick Left-Handed Girl by Shih-Ching Tsou, Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys’ Berlinale Perspective selection We Believe You [+see also:
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interview: Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte…
film profile], Hasan Hadi’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Caméra d’Or winner The President’s Cake and Tereza Nvotová’s Venice Orizzonti competitor Father [+see also:
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interview: Tereza Nvotová
film profile]. The Feature Film Competition will also highlight two world premieres: Veronika Hafner’s Obhut and Jonas Ulrich’s Wolves.

The Documentary Competition will boast three world premieres: Konrad Wakolbinger’s In Search of Stolen Time, Dea Djinovci’s The Beauty of the Donkey and Vincent Munier’s Whispering in the Woods. Other competitors include Aboozar Amini’s portrait of two Afghan brothers Kabul, Between Prayers [+see also:
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film profile], which just premiered at Venice, out of competition, and Eleanor Mortimer’s fascinating and curious deep-sea documentary How Deep Is Your Love.

Special attention will be paid to the Gala Premieres section, where works by acclaimed filmmakers from around the world will be presented. Beyond the recent Golden Lion winner Father Mother Sister Brother [+see also:
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interview: Jim Jarmusch
film profile] by Jim Jarmusch, the newest works by Luca Guadagnino (After the Hunt [+see also:
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interview: Maryam Touzani
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interview: Christian Petzold
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film profile]) and Richard Linklater (New Wave [+see also:
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film profile]) will all screen at Zurich. The Signatures strand devotes itself to “outstanding auteur films marked by a distinctive artistic voice”, including Kontinental ’25 [+see also:
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film profile] by Radu Jude, Orphan [+see also:
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interview: László Nemes
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interview: Ildikó Enyedi
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interview: Hlynur Pálmason
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The Border Lines section will include both fiction and documentary features tackling human rights and sociopolitical conflict writ large – such as Kaouther Ben Hania’s unshakeable Venice Grand Jury Prize winner The Voice of Hind Rajab [+see also:
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interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] and Mstyslav Chernov’s war-in-Ukraine doc 2000 Meters to Andriivka [+see also:
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film profile] – while the Sounds section zooms in on movies with a strong musical or sonic element, among them California Schemin’ by James McAvoy and The Testament of Ann Lee [+see also:
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film profile] by Mona Fastvold. Zurich will also include sections dedicated to films for kids and this year’s “Hashtag” strand theme, #SaveDemocracy.